Drat. Not that I wanted him here, but I think that pretty much eliminates the loss of Regehr for the Flamers.

Not that I particularly care about either of the two slow-footed, pre-lockout built D, but 2011 Regehr > 2011 Hannan.

Meh, I think they are equally mediocre, but Hannan does improve the Flamers' back end. And that makes me sad. I was hoping for another year of Staios

While it does make them slightly better than they were yesterday, I am all for the Flames being mediocre rather than hopeless. Drafting 12-15 every year and watching Ponoka eat itself alive is more fun than them being out of it in February.

There's usually a reason a guy goes from $4.5 mil a year to $1 mil a year and not getting a contract until mid-august.

I think all this serves to do is make the flames blueline slower than it was two days ago and push any youth down the depth chart (the opposite direction of what they need to be doing). This seems to be a Sutter-esque off season move...a move designed to get a mediocre team into the playoffs to lose in the first round.

Hannan seemed like a player who was lacking any enthusiasm for his job, robotic, I wondered if play in his home town might rekindle his fire but it would have been a huge gamble. Playing before a hockey crazy fan base may make him responsive ??

Looks like USA today picked the Flames Byron as a sleeper candidate for rookie of the year. I don't think it's likely, but considering how the Flames get slagged for not having any rookie talent, to have one of their players mentioned as a possible candidate for rookie of the year, gives us Flames fans something to look forward in the upcoming season